A: MRA Capital Partners was formed late last year specifically to provide some of our existing clients access to an exciting local real estate development project called “North Village at Sparta”. Knowing that this would not be our only private equity real estate investment, we decided to build the company to allow for both individual project specific investments as well as a more traditional fund structure where we can pool investments to help provide additional diversification to our investors.

Q: What were the biggest challenges?

A: The formation of MRA Capital Partners has been a challenge, but a very welcomed challenge. Some of the early challenges were learning the different legal structures, becoming familiar with the regulatory environment, interviewing multiple law, accounting, and fund administration firms to partner with. From their we spent several months networking with and interviewing dozens of experienced real estate developers and loan originators until we found a handful that we can trust and depend on to help us execute our investment strategy.

Q: Why do you want to provide investment opportunities to local residents of North Village at Sparta development?

A: North Village at Sparta was fully funded in January of this year and off to a great start. It was highly anticipated by the local residents of Sparta (I’m one of them) for many years. When the MRA Advisory group opened our second office in Sparta, we had the opportunity to gain a deeper market penetration in Sussex County and quickly realized local residents were not only excited about the new development, but also wanted to be part of its success. Being a local resident, Its additionally satisfying to me to play a small roll improving the community and helping the county grow.

Q: How did you get to where you are today?

A: After attending Admiral Farragut Academy, a Navy College Prep School in St. Pete Fl I graduated The Florida State University with degrees in Real Estate and Finance. I personally began investing in real estate in 2003 with a focus on student housing, spent some time working with Pulte Homes, one of the nations top home builders then moved back to NJ to begin my career in financial services with American Express Financial Advisors, which soon became Ameriprise Financial. After building a successful financial advisory practice, I spent some time as a District Manager of Amerirpise Financial and was then offered a franchise of Ameriprise. Marco and I merged our businesses to form what is now MRA Advisory Group and we have enjoyed 15-20% average growth annually. Alternative investments have always been an important part of our investment management strategy. From the beginning of my career I’ve always had the vision to build a full service financial services firm that offers Financial Planning, Wealth management, Insurance, Tax preparation & Planning as well as a focus on private equity investments.

Q: What’s next for MRA Capital Partners? Do you have plans to grow, expand or diversify?

A: We are currently working on building out the online experience for our existing and prospective MRA Capital Partners investors and automating the entire investment process. Our new online portal will allow investors to set up a secure online account where they can view and track their existing private equity investments as well as learn about and subscribe to new investments. The vision is to have a superior presence online to market future investment opportunities as well as our flagship “Lighthouse Fund” which Is a high yield asset backed loan fund. All loans are secured by real estate, terms are generally 12 months or less with rates ranging from 8%-14%. Considering this low but rising interest rate environment, We feel there is a significant demand for this type of investment among retail accredited investors who are seeking yield but cautious of equities at the current prices.